Saturday, November 01, 2014

Stroking the Details to Deepen the Story

Reprinted from Flash Fiction Chronicles article dated January, 2011

One of the comments that is difficult
for many of us to come to grips with is when someone tells us our stories
are not deep enough or that we haven’t given the reader enough to go on. I used to think: we’re talking flash here,
micro flash, hint fiction, short shorts!
How am I supposed to “go deep?”

But for something to resonate, it must
have context. Readers want to feel
empathy with the main character—or some kind of emotion for the main
character—even if it’s distaste. The
question is, how does a writer do that with a limited word count?

Details not only set up time and place, but also suggest a back story, the
circumstances, or even a trait or two of the main characters. Specific details also anchor the story for
the reader, giving them something to visualize while reading on to find out what
happens next. Context and empathy come about through concrete, specific details that immerse the reader in the writer's world.

A lake and two small boats give
context to Munch's painting

I’m not suggesting there's any need to describe an entire room or tell the reader the exact time of day, but rather
to stroke in a detail much as a painter might do. If you examine a painting closely, you may
discover that the person in the background is just a line squiggle with a touch
of brown at the top to suggest hair and a swish of red to suggest a skirt or as
in Munch’s The Scream: two small
boats in lake.

The man screaming in the foreground of the Munch painting is alone while behind him there are two figures on the road and two boats on the lake. I have no idea what the artist had in mind, but for me, this structure and detail suggests a strong fear of facing the world alone or facing death and because these details are behind him, he has no hope.These details do not need to be
written into a piece immediately in the
rough draft--get the story down first--but can be added in the revision stage of the process once the
writer understands what details will best serve the story in
a thematic way.

So detail, if carefully chosen, can suggest setting, foreshadow events (remember Chekov's gun), as well as deepen character, and underline theme.

Here’s an example:

Water drips from icicles outside the
kitchen window. Clear skies glisten through dirty glass panes. I’m pouring my
first cup of coffee when I hear snow sliding down the roof and know it’s time
to call Carissa.

This image sets scene as well as mood

This is the opening to my story,
“Spring Melt.” It’s a stroke like a painter’s stroke. The whole house isn’t given, not even a whole
kitchen, just the suggestion of a house
because it has a kitchen, dirty window panes, and a sloping roof. There is a sense that winter is passing into
spring and that brings the narrator to a decision to call some woman. It’s a
specific image to carry the reader into the next paragraph, but also to give
the story context and later, a thematic pay-off.

Details should be as carefully chosen as anything else in a story. Which will enhance the character and hint about what could happen next? Physical appearance often dictates personality. A woman who has always been admired for her beauty may never feel compelled to grow artistically or intellectually, and therefore has little to talk about except hairstyles and Botox. This narrowed point-of-view could, in turn, bring conflict to a piece about marriage or best friends or wherever the writer wants to go. Showing tension between characters through dialogue becomes easier when there is a trait or detail in the story that sparks deep feelings. Here's a brief exchange between Anna and Matt from “She Can’t Say No” to show how this can work.

…Alone at the table, Matt asks Anna
how she knows his friend, Kerrick, a fast-track kind of guy, gel in his hair
and Hugo Boss shoes.

“I met him once,” she says and smiles.When she smiles, the scar on her upper
lip whitens. Sometimes when he wakes up alone in the morning, thinking of her,
the word “harelip” pops into his brain. He’s hinted to her about childhood
operations, bringing up tonsillectomies, appendectomies, avoiding the words
“quadrilateral mirault flap,” but she says nothing.

Looking at her mouth now, he can
almost feel its slight ridge on his tongue. He coughs. “And?”

"And what, Matthew?”

“You were flirting.”

“I know.” She slips the side of
her naked foot along Matt’s calf and tucks it behind his knee. “I’m sorry.”

People in stories don’t always have to
agree and when they don’t, they argue, and when they argue, they bring up old
grudges, other disagreements, and reveal who they are and what’s important to
them. In the example above, the relationship
between the two characters is revealed by how Anna parries Matt’s jealousy. It’s not a fight, but it’s still a moment of
revelation. Then Matt remembers how it
feels to run his tongue along the scar on Anna’s mouth telling us that although he
is jealous of her past with men, he’s also aware of her affect on him. The detail of her scar makes this scene more interesting and deepens the emotional risk for both characters.

Sometimes a story may work without
specific detail, but going deeper can often be as easy as changing a word or two, adding a line, using a bit of
dialogue, or throwing in a specific detail that gives the reader context for
the unfolding events like Anna’s slipping her naked foot behind
Matt’s knee. She has the power and he knows it.

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FEAR

Fear freezes creativity. Failure cracks the ice. You can let yourself slip into the cold water or you can grapple for purchase and scream for help until you are once again donning your ice skates and cutting an elegant figure-eight. -Gay Degani

What is Flash Fiction?

Flash fiction is to traditional short stories what lightning is to a storm… Thunder, rain, sleet, wind and lightning are all part of the excitement of a full blown nor’easter or afternoon thunderstorm. The rush of hard rain opens our eyes; its steady drum on the roof soothes us until that first roll of thunder raises our pulse; lightning makes us anticipate and 1-2-3 count. Then rain again and we wait for another loud crack, more electrical fireworks, the clouds to clear, the skies to blue. A good storm is filled with promise, surprise, fear, suspense, relief, joy, and sometimes sadness. So is a good story. -Gay Degani

And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name.
~Shakespeare